Been losing a lot of oil lately in my 73 bay window bus. About a quart a week. It seems to be only when the engine is running because I've watched for a while while parked and I don't see anything dripping. Here is a photo of the bottom of the engine. There are weep areas that don't drip but that look like that's where the leak was coming from perhaps. Do you guys have any recommendations or tips on how to diagnose this and fix it? Am I due for an engine rebuild? Thank you.

Step 1 is a can of this and a trip to the local DIY car wash (bring a bag to put over the distributor):

Then when it's clean locate the source of the oil, most likely places are the oil pressure sender, dipstick boot or the fan hub seal._________________Rust NEVER sleeps and stock never goes out of style.

How much oil are you getting on the ground? A quart a week of leakage would leave puddles of oil any and everywhere you parked. I am guessing you may have a blowby/crankcase ventilation problem that is causing the engine to both burn and leak a high amount of oil.

There are definitely some spots and drip areas under the car. But I think it only drips when I first park and then stops after a while. I've been reading up and based on where I see the oil I think it's the fan hub seal. Worth a shot to replace it. The area around the dipstick also looks like it's leaking.

A dipstick leak is a sure sign of over pressurization of the crankcase, check that your breather is routed correctly and that every part of the system is functioning/open. If you don't have the original carbs anymore, or even not just the original air cleaner then there is a good chance you breather is not hooked up correctly.

The oil pressure switch is one of the likeliest places for a straight out leak to occur. Oil will show up everywhere when the OPS leaks.

The dipstick tube could also be wet from a fan hub seal throwing oil on it where it passes through the shroud and the cooling air pushes it out, clean it up and look at all the suspect areas really closely for the first hour of driving/running._________________Rust NEVER sleeps and stock never goes out of style.

Iím chiming in with a fan hub seal leak, Iím dealing with the very same issue, with oil leaking in the exact same spots.
Prior to replacing the oil pressure sending unit, the leaks were worse, you would not believe how bad that little thing can leak!
My leak isnít horrible, just enough to keep things wet, nothing concerning as of yet, thank goodness.
FWIW, my oil cooler, adapter, and oil filter as nice and dry._________________Invention is the tool of the adventurer - Jacques Cousteau
Sinning led me to become a saint, which I then learned I wasn't qualified. -Samuel Heath Belcher

check the condition of the dipstick boot between the housing and the filler pipe.

Seems like this repair is always being discussed and cursed, due to the cramped space the boot sets in. I found that removing the lower tin between the case and heater box provides much more access to that area, and made the job much easier and much faster. I was able to stick my hand in there easily and slide the boot on very easily. Entire job, including removing and installing tin took less than 15 minutes.

Great, someone put hose clamps on this one.

This is the tapered end where the boot fits, on the oil filler pipe where it attaches to the engine case. Shown with boot in proper installation orientation.

This is the 8mm o.d. pipe that sticks through the fan housing, shown sticking out of the housing, where the boot attaches.

Clean it and check it, when you get it clean run it for a minute shut it down and start looking around the bottom,when you see oil follow it up to the source.when you think you have located it give it a shot with the engine cleaner,run the engine and double check the leak._________________https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=620186https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=668799
1974 Bay Westfalia. she likes to be called Ethel.
1968 Dune Buggy
1974 parts bus
A smart man learns from his mistakes,a very smart man learns from other's mistakes.

soooo, any update as to what the leak was/is?_________________Parts and mechanical restoration services available. I restore and rebuild fuel pumps, distributors, spindles, etc.
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" just because YOUR hobby is another's profession, it doesn't mean that a shop works for free. " -Don

"I don't think it's a bad thing. Make people to be more green and things like that."

If you want to get more of a definitive answer, do the UV light and dye test.

I had an oil leak originating from a case bolt and the oil filter mount, which when dripping down would make it look like it was coming from all sorts of other wrong locations.

Clean everything, dye the oil, run it until it's warm and back it into your garage. turn on the UV light and watch for where it's dripping down from. Even a slight weeping will be obvious with the light._________________1979 CA Transporter

Let us know how it goes, Iím currently trying to track down my remnants of my rebuild gasket kit to locate the O ring, seal came in yesterday, so looks like Iíll be doing this soon myself.

Hoping that with a harmonic puller, all i have to do is remove the center cooling tin, the fan out, and do a little switcharoo.
Good luck._________________Invention is the tool of the adventurer - Jacques Cousteau
Sinning led me to become a saint, which I then learned I wasn't qualified. -Samuel Heath Belcher

Well still leaking after replacing that seal. I got out the big guns and took a video. I guess I'm not good at searching. I looked through the entire Engine Section of the Bentley manual and I cannot find what this cover is called. It's not the oil strainer. It's towards the back. That's where it's coming from. There might be more leaks but this is definitely a major one of them.